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Hawks take down BGSU 4-0
The Alumni Weekend welcome wasn’t too kind for former Miamians and current BGSU head coach Chris Bergeron and assistant coach Barry Schutte. Miami Freshman Blake Coleman scored twice, and Cody Reichard handily stopped everything thrown at him tonight in Oxford, as your Miami RedHawks put together a complete game in taking down the Bowling Green Falcons 4-0. After a 5-game winless streak, the ‘Hawks are now streaking in the right direction, running it to a 5 game unbeaten streak.
Coleman started the scoring early, burying a pass from Trent Vogelhuber (who had 2 assists of his own on the night) at 15:26 of the first period. Blake seemed to have “the look” tonight, as he had several scoring chances throughout the game, and tallied a team-high 4 shots. Blake looks to be jealous of his fellow freshmen forwards Tyler Biggs and Austin Czarnik – the last to CCHA Rookies of the week, and is taking care of business when he is on the ice.
Tonight’s game was a continuation of the Hawks weekend against Michigan last weekend. There was a plethora of blocked shots, great goaltending, and timely offense – 30 total shots and of course the 4 goals (all even strength), which tied a season high for this young Miami squad. It seems the 3,700-mile trip to Alaska was more than just another away series for the Hawks. Since the trip, the team is playing more complete hockey, and the upperclassmen and underclassmen are really coming together as a team. It seems the trip was well worth it, if not only for the 6 points they took from the Nanooks.
In the second period, Garrett Kennedy showed that he was another of the RedHawks wanting to get in on the fun. Garrett was seen pinching down from the point several times, was taking excellent shots, and looks more and more like a top tier defenseman every time he’s on the ice. Steven Spinell flipped a wrister into the crease area later in the second period, and it was deflected perfectly by Curtis McKenzie to put the Hawks up 3-0. Coleman’s second on the night finished the scoring at 14:33 left in the game, as Trent Vogelhuber threw another in on net
There with Kennedy and Spinnell were the always staunch defensive pairings featuring Cameron Schilling, Will Weber and Chris Wideman, and Senior netminder Cody Reichard. Cody feasted on all 23 shots that the Falcons threw at him, rarely letting up a good scoring chance, and limiting any rushes BG had by swallowing up any rebounds he let loose. Cody has regained the form we’ve come to expect over the last 3 years, and has been fantastic in net since Connor Knapp got sick during the Alaska trip. This was the first shutout for Miami since Reichard blanked Michigan on February 5th, 2011 in Oxford, and leaves him 1 shutout away from the Miami career record of 12, held by David Burleigh.
Another CCHA win puts the ‘Hawks in a tie for 5th in the CCHA with a 4-4-1-1 record, and brings their record to .500 at 6-6-1 overall. Catch the RedHawks in Ohio on the Ohio News Network (ONN) again on Saturday night as they take on the same Bowling Green State Falcons at 7:05 PM from Steve Cady Arena.
Some additional notes on the evening:
- It will be interesting to watch how Blasi plays the rotation going forward with Reichard’s success, having now led Miami in net for each of the last 5 games. Tomorrow presents another opportunity for Miami, and the young BGSU squad may be just the break that Reichard needs, and may also be just the right team to break in Knapps pads after his illness.
- While the Hawks only took 4 penalties for 8 minutes, some inexperience still showed by the Freshmen. Biggs was caught in a scuffle with the Hawks up 3-0 in the third and ended up throwing one last punch to a Falcon’s face, immediately in front of Referee John Philo. The 4 penalty kills stretch Miami’s streak of perfection to 26 penalty kills in a row.
- Curtis McKenzie is bringing the pain. Tonight reminded me of nights past when the likes of Kevin Roeder and big Joe Cooper roamed the new and old Goggin Ice Arenas. Throw in his assist on Kennedy’s goal and then his own twine-tingler in the second period, and you begin to see the all around player that Coach Blasi intended on bringing to Oxford. McKenzie now has 3 goals on the season
- We’re probably going to need an explanation from radio announcer Greg Waddell after Coleman’s second goal. Waddell quipped “Fruity Pebbles for one and all!” just after Blake slammed it home. Perhaps there’s an inside joke there that we aren’t privy to?
- While Miami tallied 30 shots, they also had 23 shots blocked on the night. While this could be seen as a concerning stat, I see it as a promising one, as it means Miami is getting back to playing Rico Blasi, put-the-puck-on-the-net, down and dirty hockey. Along with 53 shots on or around the net comes a few dirty goals, including Coleman’s second which was of that variety.
- A note on the CCHA referees. Perhaps I’m just taking a small sample size, but it seems to me that they are being more lenient than in years past? Perhaps they are just calling less penalties, or really need to improve their medial coverage on eye exams, but tonight’s game had only six penalties. In addition to the lack of arm-raising being done, it seems the leagues head pairing (Brian Aaron and Wilkins) has a thing for calling off big goals. In tonight’s matchup in South Bend, Boston College had a goal waved off with 2 seconds remaining in the second period. This followed their weekend in Oxford, where the same pairing took 2 apparent goals away from Miami on Saturday night’s tie and shootout win for Miami.
Weekend Preview: Miami v. Bowling Green
Miami hopes to continue its solid play as the RedHawks conclude a four-game homestand against Chris Bergeron and the Bowling Green Falcons.
The RedHawks enter the weekend just 5-6-1 overall (3-4-1-1 CCHA), but are 3-0-1 over the past two weekends. With 11 league points, Miami has climbed out of the cellar in the CCHA and is currently 7th in the standings. Miami has been led by senior goaltender Cody Reichard as he has been in net for each of the previous four games showing both the kind of play we expect and the leadership that’s needed for this team to compete. This year, it all starts in the net until the forwards begin to put the puck in the net like we think they can.
Bowling Green (6-5-1, 1-5 CCHA) snapped a five-game losing streak by sweeping lowly Canisius at the BGSU Ice Rink last weekend. The Falcons are led offensively by sophomore Cam Wojtala and freshman Ryan Carpenter with 13 and 11 points, respectively, and like Miami have had trouble scoring this season averaging just 2.16 goals per game.
In net, junior Andrew Hammond has performed well having started all 12 games for the Falcons and representing a 2.14 goals-against average and .904 save percentage.
For Miami, the good news is the young forwards are starting to find their game. Freshmen Tyler Biggs and Austin Czarnik have earned CCHA Rookie of the Week honors over the past two weeks and Czarnik seems to have found chemistry playing with junior Reilly Smith on the first line. Unsurprisingly, Czarnik and Smith lead the RedHawks with 8 and 9 points, respectively with Smith also leading the team with 7 goals.
In fact the freshmen forwards consisting of Biggs, Czarnik, Blake Coleman, Jimmy Mullin and Alex Wideman have combined for nine goals or 32.1% of Miami’s scoring, and 23 points, which is 31.5% of Miami’s points. Source: miamiredhawks.com
If the RedHawks hope to continue to ascend the league standings, and more importantly, the Pairwise rankings, they need these two games. With stellar defensive play from junior Garrett Kennedy as he clearly leads by example (Kennedy has played possessed unafraid to throw his body all around the ice) and the dramatic improvement from Cody Reichard, the Hawks have the right formula. Now if they can just start scoring more consistently, they could go on a run.
I think Miami sweeps.
Notes
– Miami is 21-3-2 in the last 26 games against Bowling Green including 11 straight victories and 18 of the last 19. Miami has won 12 straight against BG at home.
– The Falcons still lead the all-time series 58-42-7 despite Miami’s dominance over the past decade.
– Bowling Green has not played a road game since October 22 at Lake Superior.
– Falcon head coach Chris Bergeron is seeking his first win over his alma mater. He is 0-4 all-time as the Falcons coach against Miami. Conversely, Miami bench boss Enrico Blasi is 26-8-2 all-time against Bowling Green.
Biggs, Czarnik Claim Back-to-Back CCHA Rookie Awards
Tyler Biggs Austin Czarnik
Miami freshmen forwards Tyler Biggs and Austin Czarnik have been honored with the first weekly CCHA awards of their respective careers in back-to-back weeks.
For his efforts against Alaska, Biggs was named the Gongshow CCHA Rookie of the Week. In Miami’s two game sweep in Fairbanks, the forward from Loveland, Ohio had an assist in both games, blocked a shot and finished +1 for the weekend.
Coming off a game DQ, Czarnik (Washington, Mich.) did not play in Friday’s 2-1 win over Michigan. However, he suited up for Saturday’s game and had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points in Miami’s 3-3 tie with the Wolverines to earn the Gongshow CCHA Rookie of the Week award. He also blocked a shot and finished +1 on the night.
Congratulations to both players and best of luck the rest of the way.
Miami and Michigan Skate to 3-3 Tie
Reilly Smith scored a pair of goals and Cody Reichard made 25 saves as Miami settled for a 3-3 tie with Michigan on Saturday night.
After spotting then #4 Michigan (7-3-2, 3-3-2-1 CCHA) a 2-0 first period lead, Miami (5-6-1, 3-4-1-1 CCHA) stormed back to salvage a 3-3 tie earning the extra point in the league standings with a 1-0 shootout win. More on that in a moment.
Overall, Miami dominated the Wolverines for a second consecutive night winning the battles along the boards and controlling play while outshooting Michigan 41-28. The 41 shots marked a season’s best number for the Red and White. Further, Miami was so dominant, they erased the 2-0 deficit when junior Reilly Smith scored his second goal of the night on the power play with just over 12 left in regulation to take a 3-2 lead. Arguably, this should have been a regulation win for Miami if not for two disallowed goals, one of which was incredibly controversial, and a fluke goal from Michigan freshman Zach Hyman that tied the game at 3 late in the third period.
Perhaps this game should be our 2010 West Regional Final since Michigan fans can’t seem to let that one go and Miami had one stolen away last night. One thing’s certain, Miami looked nothing like the team we’d seen through the season’s first ten games this weekend as Miami had all facets of their game working. The only really negative thing I took away from the weekend is the RedHawks are still guilty of being too aggressive at times. Last night we saw several overplays from nearly every group on the squad that led to Michigan goals. Nothing wrong with working hard, but Miami needs to find that line of aggressiveness that doesn’t result in pucks in their net.
The real highlight of the night might not have been the nice redirection by Reilly Smith that gave Miami a brief lead, but rather, the winning shootout goal from sophomore Bryon Paulazzo.
Paulazzo, shooting fourth for Miami, started to his right and skated toward the Baby Goalie. Knowing that BG had just poke-checked Reilly Smith from close range, Paulazzo kept his distance and at the last moment spun with the puck on his backhand and roofed a shot above the fallen Baby. Here’s video courtesy of Miami All-Access and ONN.
After Paulazzo’s goal, Miami senior netminder Cody Reichard stopped Michigan’s leading scorer, Lindsay Sparks, to give the RedHawks the additional point in CCHA play. Reichard stopped all four Michigan shooters while Baby Goalie stopped three of four RedHawks including Smith, Austin Czarnik and Jimmy Mullin before surrendering Paulazzo’s highlight reel goal.
Next weekend, the RedHawks look to extend their four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1) as they remain home to face Chris Bergeron’s Bowling Green Falcons in a two-game CCHA series.
Notes
– Miami is now 8-3-1 against the Wolverines in their last 12 meetings and is unbeaten in the last five (4-0-1).
– Cody Reichard has been in net for the previous four Miami games as Connor Knapp recovers from injury. Reichard is 3-0-1 in those four games.
– Reilly Smith now has seven goals on the year in just 10 games as he picked up his second multi-goal game of the year. He had 28 goals last year for Miami.
– The two teams will meet again in the regular season in Ann Arbor on February 3-4.
– Miami freshman Austin Czarnik set a career high with 3 points on the evening (1G, 2A).
– Miami has moved to 19th in the Pairwise and 16th in KRACH. They have played the 5th most difficult schedule in the nation thus far.
Miami defeats #4 Michigan 2-1
In their most complete game of the season, the Miami RedHawks (5-6, 3-4 CCHA) received goals from freshmen Jimmy Mullin and Tyler Biggs and senior goaltender Cody Reichard made 20 saves as the RedHawks knocked off #4 Michigan (7-3-1, 3-3-1-1 CCHA) 2-1 at Steve Cady Arena.
It was an all-around effort for Miami as not only did the defense deny the Wolverines time and space, but chipped in with three of the four assists on the two Miami goals. Sophomore Garrett Kennedy and junior Joe Hartman assisted on the Mullin goal while senior co-captain Will Weber and junior forward Curtis McKenzie offered helpers on Biggs’ game winner. And, when the defense did breakdown, Cody Reichard was there to make key saves with none bigger than a lunging stop on Wolverine senior David Wohlberg, who found a loose puck on his stick in front of the Miami net with just over a minute left in regulation.
If last night is to be a harbinger of what’s to come, things are looking up for this team. Miami played with the sort of intensity that toed the line between out of control and physical. Unlike many of the season’s first 11 games that have been a parade to the penalty box, Miami managed to physically dominate the Wolverines but took only three minor penalties for six minutes before a few unpleasantries were exchanged between Michigan’s Alex Guptill and Miami’s Curtis McKenzie at the game’s final buzzer. If Miami can limit their time shorthanded and play their brand of tough, physical hockey, that will help them as the young forwards continue to find their game.
Tonight, Miami goes for their fourth straight win as they conclude this early season matchup with #4 Michigan. With three league points already secured, the RedHawks have an opportunity to play their game and improve upon their 8-3 record against the Wolverines over the past several years. In order to do so, they’ll need to play a game very similar to last night — tough defense, timely scoring and good goaltending. If they can, they’ll erase their early 2-6 start and climb back to .500 overall.
Notes
– Senior Trent Vogelhuber was assessed a 10 minute misconduct for leaving the bench to get involved in the scuffle at the final buzzer. It’s unclear if Vogelhuber was assessed a DQ or if it was just a misconduct. If he received the DQ, he’ll miss tonight’s finale against the Wolverines.
– Miami’s freshman forward Austin Czarnik will return to the lineup tonight after serving his mandatory one-game suspension for receiving a DQ in last Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Alaska.
– After a slow start, senior netminder Cody Reichard is on a roll. His overall record is now 4-3 and he has been in net for the past three Miami victories allowing just three goals while watching his season stats improve dramatically. Reichard now sports a 2.27 goals-against average and .908 save percentage as he begins to round into form. In fact, as of October 30, Reichard’s numbers were an un-Cody-like 3.11 and .870 after the weekend sweep at the hands of Lake Superior State.
– In addition to having a chance to even its overall record at 6-6, a win tonight would even the RedHawks record at home as well as in the CCHA as Miami has moved into 7th place in the league, just two points behind Michigan. A regulation or OT victory would catapult the RedHawks past the Wolverines in the CCHA.
RedHawks Sweep Nanooks, face Michigan this Weekend
After finishing a sweep over the Alaska Nanooks in Fairbanks on Saturday night, the Miami RedHawks (4-6 overall, 2-4 CCHA) come home to face their fiercest rival, the #4 Michigan Wolverines, in a two-game CCHA series at Steve Cady Arena on Friday and Saturday night.
In earning their first two CCHA victories, the RedHawks used a familiar formula of stout defense, solid goaltending and timely scoring. Though this Miami team is still spending way too much time in the penalty box, at least they began to showcase the sort of mettle that’s going to be necessary for this team to win. In short, they aren’t going to win too many pretty games.
On Saturday, junior forward Curtis McKenzie got Miami off and running with a power play goal at 6:25 of the first period, senior Cody Reichard made 24 saves and sophomore forward Max Cook scored the game-winner at 8:32 of the third period as Miami held on to sweep the weekend series. For his weekend efforts, freshman forward Tyler Biggs was named the Gongshow CCHA Rookie of the Week on the merits of his two helpers, +1 rating on the weekend with one blocked shot against the Nanooks. Hopefully, this is but the first of many such awards for the highly regarded first round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs. For the season, Biggs is 1-4-5 with a -3 rating, good enough for a tie for third in scoring for the RedHawks. And, the aforementioned Reichard played both nights in allowing just two goals all weekend.
Looking ahead to this weekend, the RedHawks have no time to recover, nor revel in the sweep of the Nanooks as Miami will welcome the Michigan Wolverines to Steve Cady Arena. The Wolverines (7-2-1 overall, 3-2-1-1 CCHA) split a two-game series in Ann Arbor with Western Michigan last weekend delivering the first loss of the season to the Broncos on Saturday night. Unlike Miami, the Wolverines have found immediate replacements for lost scorers including Carl “That Miele Guy” Hagelin and Louie Caporusso, and have received major contributions from rather unknown upperclassmen such as Lindsay Sparks (13 points) and A.J. Treais (10 points) who lead the team in scoring. In fact, Michigan is averaging 4.6 goals per game, good enough for third in the nation while Miami is averaging just 2.3 goals per night.
Back in net is the “Baby Goalie” himself, senior Shawn Hunwick. Hunwick is off to another strong start with one shutout, a 1.62 goals-against average and sterling .941 save percentage. But, as we know, the Baby Goalie uses a rattle can be rattled. We need the Miami student section to get all over him and hope he loses his cool and “goes Caruso” like he’s done in the past. This season he’s already punched a player (above) earning a 5 minute major and a game misconduct in a loss against Northern Michigan in Marquette. Let’s be loud and get the Baby Goalie off his game this weekend. Rattles in the crowd would be outstanding!
Unfortunately, this is not a good matchup for Miami. Our undisciplined play this season could really hurt us against another talented Michigan squad that’s playing good hockey. While their power play is only converting at a .196 click, they already have seven skaters with at least 9 points meaning they’re getting contributions from everyone. By contrast, Miami does not have a single scorer with more than 7 points (Alden Hirschfeld) and cannot get into an up and down game with the talented Wolverines. To steal a game, we’ll need to clog the neutral zone, play stout defense and get great goaltending from our two senior leaders in net. If last weekend’s performance against Alaska is a sign of things to come, this series could be close. But, in the end, Miami doesn’t seem to have enough right now to build on it’s 7-3 record against the Wolverines over the last 10 games.
As much as I’d like to see Miami improve it’s 1-3 home record this season, I think Michigan sweeps.
Welcome to The Power Play: 2 minutes with Women’s Club Coach Scott Hicks
Welcome to the Power Play! Our first installment of our “interview-based” articles features Miami Women’s Club Hockey Head Coach Scott Hicks. The Lady RedHawks take on defending National Champion Michigan State this weekend at The Goggin, so we thought this would be a perfect time to introduce you to Coach Hicks and the Ladies’ Team!
I had asked Scott these questions on the eve of the team’s trip to Buffalo, NY for the Buffalo Blizzard Tournament. The RedHawks started out the tournament against Ohio State, falling 4-1 on October 21st. The next day, Miami took on host school Buffalo, as well as Colorado State, winning over Buffalo 3-1 and CSU 4-1 to take their spot in the Finals on Sunday. Having just lost to Ohio State, the RedHawks were very familiar with their opponent in the Championship game. The RedHawks came back strong and took home the trophy with a 3-1 victory. On a weekend where the RedHawks got their first ever win, they earn sweet, sweet redemption against Ohio State, and took a giant step forward as a program.
Here is the first part of our interview with Da Coach, and next week, we’ll have the second part. Thanks Coach, and Go RedHawks!!!
Redskin Warriors (RW): First of all, give us an update on how the team got started. Most casual fans didn’t even know that Miami even had a Women’s team. Where did you come from? Did the administration come to you to start a team? The other way around? Or did Miami students come to the table with the idea?
Scott Hicks (SH): Well, we got started sometime in 2009 by a trio of students: Natalie Dillion, Jess Wood, and Liz Wardlow. They were a little unorganized, but got a group of girls together. In the summer of 2010 Kevin Ackley and Dan Daikaiwa got involved and really helped them organize and get sanctioned with the university. They called me in August to gauge my interest in being involved and I came on board at that point. So it was a collaborative effort, but driven by the students more than anything, and I think all of us who came on board saw the value and need for a program like ours.
RW: Being a club hockey team, you probably don’t have a very large budget for recruiting. How do you recruit new players, and how are you growing the team?
SH: You’re right we don’t have a large recruiting budget, its virtually at a $0 balance. This is the biggest struggle we have, all recruiting is done on our own time and own dime. This season we were lucky, most of the girls we brought in contacted us with interest and we went from there. But moving forward we hope word of mouth gets out, as well as people close to the program and alumni passing along talented players. But we think our biggest recruiting tool will be our newly formed Women’s hockey camp. It was held for the first time ever this summer and we had 83 girls attend our camp which is part of the prestigious Miami Hockey Schools. (You can check out all info about the team by clicking here.)
We had such a huge interest in that camp that the director of the camp has decided to extend it to two weeks next year. So we are really going to count on this camp to bring girls onto campus and find talented players to come to Miami. We actually got our first commitment from someone who attended our camp over the summer so that is extremely encouraging for us.
RW: Tell us about the team. How many players do you have on the team? Where did the ladies come from? Be honest – were there any Synchronized Skating Team cast-offs?
SH: This year we have 16 girls on our roster. Our numbers aren’t where we would like them to be but we are a second year program and really trying to build from the ground up. It is taking time to get the girls we want here and that want to be here but I would expect our numbers to continue to grow over the next few years as we brought in 6 freshmen this coming year. Our girls actually come from all over the country. We only have 2 girls out of 16 from the state of Ohio. We brought in freshmen this year from Chicago, Phoenix and Connecticut, as well as the Cleveland area. All of these girls come from amateur hockey programs – we don’t have any figure skaters on our roster. Some come from prep school programs, public high school programs, as well as U-19 programs from across the country.
RW: What are the skill levels on the team? Have all of these women played competitive hockey? Are their skill levels similar, or is there a large spread from the top line on down?
SH: Skill level has increased tenfold from last year. We have girls who have D-I experience – having transferred in girls who played competitive Women’s hockey and some who played against boys growing up. Along with our skill level going up the gap from top to bottom has closed dramatically, which in turns makes us a much better program.
RW: We’ve seen a couple tweets from you and the team (@CoachMUwmhockey and @MiamiWHockey) about The Sisterhood. How is that catching on? Are the ladies embracing their version of The Brotherhood?
SH: All of the girls involved in our program are buying in and that is the biggest thing. I know we’re not necessarily trying to copy the men’s program but I for one respect coach Blasi and all he has done, and I think using a program like that as a template is a smart thing to do. Not only that, but it gives our girls an identity and something people can relate to. We really try to create a family atmosphere with our program and these girls have gotten really close in such a short period of time.
RW: Have you ever been kicked out of a game? Any YouTube videos of you bowing to the referees a la Rico Blasi that we need to search for?
SH: HAHA! To answer your question, no I have yet to be kicked out of a game. Although I am sure there are some officials in the area who would like to kick me out of a game, but I don’t have any YouTube moments as of yet.
Don’t forget, Coach Hicks has his shot at YouTube fame on Friday night as the RedHawks face off against defending national champions Michigan State at 9:15 PM and again Saturday at 12:15 PM. Both games will be played in Steve Cady Arena and admission is free. Go ‘Hawks!!!
To read the second part of our interview with Coach Hicks, please click here.
Weekend Recap: Lakers sweep RedHawks
With Miami stumbling out of the gate to an uncharacteristic 2-6 start, common themes have emerged during the first eight games of the 2011-12 season. In a nutshell, Miami has been plagued by penalties, poor penalty killing and defense, and an overall lack of leadership starting from the net out.
Senior goaltenders, and four-year starters, Cody Reichard and Connor Knapp currently feature the worst numbers of their career. Reichard has never had a season goals-against average higher than 2.11, nor a save percentage lower than .912, but currently sports a 3.11 and .870. For Connor Knapp, he has never posted numbers worse than 2.09 and .904, but currently sits at 3.17 and .888 respectively.
Clearly, this was not supposed to be a problem coming into the year. Now, with the rash of penalties and lack of sound defense and penalty killing, the goaltenders have certainly been left out to dry on more than one occasion this season. Yet, as four-year starters and leaders on this team, they were expected to be a rock in the net allowing the young forwards to find their game. Miami’s goaltenders simply aren’t keeping the RedHawks in games. If this doesn’t improve, it won’t matter about the development of the offense because coming from behind in every game simply won’t work.
On defense, seniors, and four-year starters Cameron Schilling, Chris Wideman and Will Weber need to be better. There have been many instances already this season of defensive misplays, overplays and general lack of intensity. Very strange considering this group has always done what it takes, and performed admirably in all situations. This group has to find their game to support the development of the kids upfront.
Lastly, Miami is not receiving scoring depth nor significant contributions from role players. Max Cook, Steve Mason, Pat Tiesling, Curtis McKenzie, Trent Vogelhuber, Bryon Paulazzo…these guys have to elevate their games, and especially, stay out of the penalty box.
There are still 30 games to go. It’s a long season and this team has plenty of time to gel. I think we all expected a drop-off, but I would not have predicted six losses in the first eight games. Worse, the RedHawks are 0-4 in league play meaning they’re already staring at an uphill battle to finish in the top five and earn a bye and home ice in the CCHA playoffs…something Miami has NEVER failed to accomplish under the current playoff format.
Hopefully, Miami will begin to find their game on the road as the RedHawks travel to Fairbanks, Alaska to face the Nanooks in another critical CCHA series.
Gameday: RedHawks host Lakers
It’s been a crazy week so this weekend’s preview is going to be pretty short.
Tonight the #16 Miami RedHawks (2-4) host 18th ranked Lake Superior State (5-1) in a CCHA series at Steve Cady Arena. The Lakers sport a fancy 5-1 overall record but they’ve fashioned against some of the “weak sisters of the poor” having compiled it against the likes of Alabama-Huntsville, Michigan State and Bowling Green – three teams that are a combined 6-12-2 with Bowling Green having four of those wins. In contrast, Miami’s three opponents sport a combined record of 12-4-1 with the RedHawks having the only victory over Colgate so far in 2011-12. The strange Thursday-Friday series is due to Miami’s Homecoming football game against Buffalo on Saturday afternoon that will literally draw 5 fans. In fact, so many fans that you couldn’t possibly host a football game followed by a hockey game on the same night. But, I digress.
As usual, the Lakers are led by head coach Jim Roque who is in his 7th season behind the bench. Roque carries an all-time record of 85-108-39 into the weekend’s series. In contrast, Miami head coach Enrico Blasi is 262-169-46 all-time and and impressive 23-8-1 against Lake Superior despite Miami’s dismal overall 37-54-11 record against the former NCAA powerhouse.
On the ice, the Lakers are led by sophomore netminder Kevin Kapalka who offers another test for the offensively-challenged RedHawks. Kapalka, who took over the starting job in the middle of last year, has been impressive sporting a 1.84 GAA and .926 save percentage. He has allowed just 11 goals in 6 games. Offensively, the Lakers aren’t lighting up the scoreboard having netted just 17 goals in six games (2.83 per game) and there aren’t a lot of marquee names to write home about.
But, until Miami shows its defensive mettle and its stable of young, talented forwards start finding the net, even offensively-challenged teams like Lake State aren’t to be taken lightly. Miami should sweep this series, but they’ve yet to put together a truly solid game, let alone weekend. It’s time to make that happen.
Do work boys.
Weekend Outlook – Double Lantern Weekend – Miami SWEEP
Friday 4-2
Saturday 4-1
Deja Vu All over Again, Hawks fall 2-0
I guess I really don’t have to write a recap of last night’s 2-0 loss to Ferris State in Big Rapids, Mich.
The script was nearly identical to Friday’s game. Ferris gets two powerplay goals in eight attempts, Miami can’t convert in just three man-advantage situations and the RedHawks fall to 2-4 overall and 0-2 in the CCHA on the season.
Connor Knapp made 20 saves and Bulldog freshman goaltender, C.J. Motte earned his second collegiate shutout by stopping all 27 Miami chances.
Miami was whistled for 59 penalty minutes including three game misconducts as they continue to lead the nation in PIM.
Something’s gotta change fast because this appears to be a young, undisciplined team. Senior co-captains Alden Hirschfeld and Will Weber need to grab control of this team quickly to solve the penalty-fests that Miami games have become. If the RedHawks aren’t going to get the calls, then they need to find a way to avoid getting called or it’s going to be a long season.
Here are Miami’s penalty numbers through six games:
vs. Bemidji – 3 penalties for 6 minutes
vs. Bemidji – 4 for 8
vs. Colgate – 11 for 22
vs. Colgate – 9 for 18
vs. Ferris State – 7 for 14
vs. Ferris State – 13 for 59
Additionally, Miami has scored just 14 goals in six games and has scored more than three goals just once. Last season, Andy Miele would have 14 points in a weekend.
Remember, it’s a young, new team and a long season, but it’s certainly not off to a great start.
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